~)Pergamon
History of European Ideas, Vol. 20, Nos 1-3. pp. 183-188, 1995
Copyright © 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd
Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
0191-6599/95 $9.50 + 00
SELF.REFLECTION AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY-KIERKEGAARD'S WRITINGS ABOUT HIMSELF
HARTMUTROSENAU*
The general subject of this workshop is 'Kierkegaard--a European Thinker'.
This title seems to be rather exaggerated, at least with regard to Kierkegaard's
self-assessment. For in his own view he belongs to the provincial areas of Europe,
to the 'small town' Copenhagen, although as a 'genius'.~ Therefore Kierkegaard
cannot be considered a European cosmopolitan, for he hardly experienced
another country than Denmark--except for his short journeys to Berlin. In
comparison to other great and really 'European' thinkers--e.g. Erasmus of
Rotterdam, Leibniz or Schopenhauer--Kierkegaard's biography is rather
simple. Moreover he has not founded any international school or fellowship
during his life-time, so that his thinking could have been installed as an important
step within the history of European thinking. By the way--this would have been
a complete misunderstanding of his intentions, for he has written with regard to
the individual and not with regard to a school--'away from the public to the
individual'. 2
What makes Kierkegaard a 'European Thinker' is of course not geographical
categories, but categories of the history of ideas. The latter are primary motives
even today--apart from political or historical interests (e.g. the European
Market or the anniversary of the discovery of America)--for ~ reflection of what
'European' could mean. A very urgent motive for such an investigation seems to
be the world-wide ecological crisis we all are concerned with, which--justified or
not--is considered to be a result of the two roots of European spirit: ancient
Greek logos and the so called 'dominium terrae' of the Old Testament within the
Christian tradition) In general: the origin of Europe is Greek philosophy and
Christian faith. Together--although with an antithetical tension in Kierkegaard's
view--these two roots have caused a life-style ('Lebensform') which can be called
'European'? This life-style oscillates in many different ways between Socrates
and Jesus Christ, and these two main figures of European thinking are very
important for Kierkegaard, although not of equal value. With regard to his
aesthetical writings Socrates is the example of how to 'fool' people into truth
within the modern area of reflection, 5 but Jesus Christ is the truth and the
absolute itself. 6
It is not the intention of Kierkegaard to harmonise Socrates and Jesus Christ
by a humanistic spirit of peace, which might have been a reason for the romantic
concept of unity and Catholic piety as Novalis has suggested in his essay 'Die
Christenheit oder Europa' of 1799. 7 In contrary to this concept of unity it is
Kierkegaard's intention to show antagonisms and break-downs of human life by
pointing out Socrates and Jesus Christ dialectically. Just by this, the fragile and
manifold existence of man could be considered a microcosmos in comparison to
*In der Krim 59, 5600 Wuppertai 21, Marburg, Germany.
183
184
Hartmut Rosenau
the macrocosmos 'Europe', which is not unified and harmonised at all? These
tensions and antagonisms of human existence seem to be a result of
Kierkegaard's position: 'subjectivity' is the truth. 9
Within the European history or philosophy this position could be the
consequence of the following steps of development: the overcoming of
mythology by the 'logos' since Heraclitus and Plato; the elaboration of the
platonic logos to categories by Aristotle; the systematic deduction of categories
from the transcendental 'ego' by Kant and Fichte, since Descartes has found the
'cogito' to be the modern 'fundamentum inconcussum' for European philosophy;
the change from categories to vivid and personal powers ('Potenzen') in the later
writings of Schelling in order to distinguish the ontological status of dead things
from personal beings; finally Kierkegaard's dialectic of existence, which has its
consequence in the so called 'Existenzialien' of human life in the work of
Heidegger.
As far as the history of European theology is concerned, we have to recognise
the role of conscience before God since Paul the Apostle, Augustine and Luther,
to understand Kierkegaard's thesis of subjectivity as the principal of truth.
Kierkegaard calls the inevitable connection of all our thinking with the 'ego
cogito': 'reflection'. Reflection is the sign of his time, not in the sense of optimistic
pride, but rather in the sense of a fatal burden: 'The tragedy of our age is reason
and reflection. No spontaneous enthusiast will be able to help us any more, for
the reflection of the age is consuming him'. ~°
It is precisely the religious existencemthe most important one for
Kierkegaardmwhich will be destroyed by means of reflection. And now it is our
task to gain faith a s the 'spontaneity after reflection'. H But this aim is not
reachable without or against reflection, only by going through reflection to the
simplicity of faith: 'The religious is put completely into reflection, but in such a
manner, that it will be taken back completely into simplicity by reflection'. ~ This
program contains the 'European' problem as Kierkegaard settles it. It is the
problem of Christianity in the nineteenth century up to now: how is it possible to
overcome reflection by means of reflection, if subjectivity is the truth? (Probably
this 'European' problem can be transferred to the ecological crisis caused by
European science and technology today: how is it possible to overcome the
disastrous results of technology by means of technology, if technology is a kind
of truth?) 13
The rough explanation of Kierkegaard's thesis that subjectivity is the truth,
given by some hints to the history of philosophy and theology, points out two
phenomenons of European thinking, which are extremely emphasised in
Kierkegaard's work and which make him a 'European Thinker' par excellence:
the selfand the conscience.t4These two phenomena show up the problem of selfassurance. In other words: It isthe problem of autonomy and rcalisingofonself,
of individualityand the 'ego'--not of subjectivityas such and in general,as itis
proclaimed as 'transcendentalego' in the philosophy of Kant and Fichtc, but of
the personal, concrete 'ego' (the 'empirical ego' in the words of Fichte):'one of
the tragedies of modern times is precisely this---tohave abolished the T, the
personal 'I'~Smforthe benefitof the publicwithout responsibility,the masses and
the press.~6 In contrast to this,Kicrkcgaard claims in his own way the ancient
Greek programme of'gnothi seauton': 'Self-knowledge(not fantasticallythe pure
History of European Ideas
Kierkegaard's Writings about Himself
185
self-consciousness and the pure I'). t7
Therefore Kierkegaard is a 'European Thinker' par excellence, because he
discusses the problem of self-reflection in a way nobody else has done before. As
far as I can see, nowhere else in the history of humanities can we find such a
methodological and existential concentration in respect to the self (there are
even caricatures of this, as we know: The whole world turns around S.K.). The
Buddhists, for example, refuse to propose a self or an 'ego' ('anatta'), or, to give
another example, in old Israel the individual is nothing else but a part of the tribe
or the people, similar to the so-called primitive religions of nature. This
concentration on the sclf--critised as 'eurocentrism' or 'anthropoccntrism'
today'S--combined with the typical European category of history ~9 makes it
obvious that the perfect genre of this self-reflection must be the autobiography.
In my opinion Kierkegaard's writings in general belong to this genre, although
not in the naive way of direct self-reflection like memoirs? ° He is aware of all the
problems of self-reflection by means of his pseudonyms as well as by means of his
literal elaboration of his relationship to his father and to his fianc6e--for instance
in his writings 'Fear and Trembling', 'The Repetition' and in many parts of his
'Diary of the Seducer' in 'Either-Or' I.
Kierkegaard is not a naive autobiographer, he does not look upon his life with
a certain pride, which critics have often pointed out to be a failure of the
autobiography. 2~ He is a manifold broken autobiographer and uses his typical
'indirect communication' even against himself. Therefore he figures out an inner
problem of the literal form of autobiography.
In my opinion Kierkegaard's writings are the summit of what a Christian
autobiography could be, because he overcomes this form through internal
reasons, that means: by reflection. For he knows about the 'riddle of the self',22
which can never 'have' or 'possess' itself totally as we can have or possess dead
things, as he says: 'Life can be interpreted only after it has been experienced...'.23
Therefore the 'riddle of the self' cannot be solved by self-description. It still
remains a riddle. But for Kierkegaard there is a demand to become 'transparent'
to oneself, that means: to have our self in order to look through our self until we
can see its bottom, its substance, that is God: 'in relating itself to itself and in
willing to be itself, the self rests transparently in the power that established it.
This formula in t u r n . . , is the definition of faith'. 24 As far as the 'ego' becomes
'dissolved in the divine all', 'existence... gains a transparency'3 5 Only by
becoming transparent in relation to God can we overcome our desperation
arising because of the antagonisms and tensions in trying to become a self
(without God) or to get rid of our self(before God), as Kierkegaard says? 6 Only
by this can we reach a balance of the antithetical elements of the self as
Kierkegaard describes them in 'The Sickness unto Death' part I: 'A human being
is spirit. But what is spirit? Spirit is the self. But what is the self?. The self is a
relation that relates itself to itself or is the relation's relating itself to itself in the
relation; the self is not the relation but is the relation's relating itself to itself. A
human being is a synthesis of the infinite and the finite, of the temporal and the
eternal, of freedom and necessity.. ?.27 With regard to the tension of time and
eternity Kierkegaard describes the demand of becoming transparent as follows:
'To be contemporary with oneself (therefore neither in the future of fear or of
expectation nor in the past) is transparency in repose, and this is possible only in
Volume 20, Nos 1-3, January 1995
186
Hartmut Rosenau
the God-relationship, or it is the God-relationship'. 28
This seems to be mysticism, and in fact there are a lot of remarks especially in
Kierkegaard's early diaries, which show a certain relationship to mysticism (this
is a hint of Wim Scholtens), for Kierkegaard shows the importance of leaving the
serf, which should become a part of God's higher reality. For being a self is not an
honour but a burden: 'How horrible if all history disappears for a sickly brooding
over one's own wretched history'; 29 and: 'There is nothing more dangerous for a
man, nothing more paralysing, than a certain isolating self-scrutiny...'.3° And in
an extreme temper: 'to me all existence is infected, I myself most of all'? 1
Therefore Kierkegaard preaches 'true humility' like Meister Eckhart and other
mystics: 'In order to learn true humility .... it is good for a person to withdraw
from the turmoil of the world...,,32 for ' . . . here the soul opens willingly to every
noble impression .... he feels a need to surrender to this power that rules it all'.33
Could it then be the task of the specific Christian autobiography to write the
self away, knowing that the 'ego' is not capable of the 'unified point of view' to
describe its own life?34 Would it then be the consequent result of 'European'
thinking and its emphasised subjectivity just to leave the self and the'ego' (and so
the 'European' as well)? A short note of Kierkegaard gives a hint in this direction:
'The category 'to continue to stand' can be used in connection with Asia. The
Jews continued to stand; China has continued to stand; India has continued to
stand--on the other hand, the category for Europe is: to fall. Rome fell. Greece
fell'? 5 In my opinion this means: the 'ego' leaves itself, or better: should leave
itself or become transparent.
But how could this be possible? For to become transparent with regard to the
power which established the serf can only be realised through the paradox of
becoming a serf by leaving the serf--that is to say: never. F o r ' I can abstract from
everything but notfrora myself'. 36 Just for this reason the self has become the
modem 'fundamentum inconcussum' since Descartes and Fichte. Only by means
of irony this paradox of leaving the self by becoming a serf (or the other way
round) is understandable. "And this legitimates Kierkegaard's way of
autobiographical writings. For it is irony which can hold the gap open between
the wish and the ability of leaving the serf--but not in the mood of desperation,
but in the mood of reconciliation, as it is told by the gospel of Christ, although it
is not thinkable: 'Irony is the unity of ethical passion, which in inwardness
infinitely accentuates the private self, and of development, which in outwardness
(in association with people) infinitely abstracts from the private self' .37 By means
of becoming ironical with oneself the problem could be 'solved' of how to
overcome reflection--that is: the serf--by means of reflection--that is: by means
of the serf, the problem of becoming tansparent--whenever.
Irony is the essential form of autobiography with regard to the riddle of the
self, to the paradox, that I can only leave myself by becoming a self, makes
Kierkegaard's writings a work of art. This means: they are not just stories about
the serf and what it 'really' is. Kierkegaard's form of autobiography is 'the story
of one's own life as true poetry' in the shape of a work of art, 'which only can be
true as far as it is considered to be a work of art'. 38 With this insight of
Kierkegaard he is--in my opinion--a 'European Thinker' par excellence,
History of European Ideas
Kierkegaarar s Writings about Himself
187
because he jokes with the literary genre of the autobiography--for he is the
'master of irony'.
Hartmut Rosenau
University of Marburg, Germany
NOTES
1. S. Kierkegaard, The Point of Viewfor my Work as an Author (= Point of View). German
edition by Hirsch/Gerdes XIII, 580pp. (own translation).
2. S. Kierkegaard, On my A ctivity as an Author (= Activity), German edition XIII, 499pp.
(own translation).
3. Gerhard Friedrich, ()kologie und Bibel (Stuttgart, 1982).
4. Reinhold Schneider, 'Europa als Lebensform', inDerFriede der Welt (Frankfurt/M.
1983), 222pp.
5. S. Kierkegaard, Point of View, p. 541.
6. S. Kierkegaard, Practice in Christianity, ed. Hong/Hong (Princeton, 1991), No I, IV
('Christianity as the Absolute').
7. Ernst Wolf, Art. 'Europa r , in RGG, pp. 734-737.
8. Reinhold Schneider, Europa als Lebensform, p. 224.
9. S. Kierkegaard, Concluding Unscientific Postscript, ed. Swenson/Lowrie (Princeton:
1974), part II, chapter III, §1.
10. S.Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers (= JP), ed. Hong and Hong (Bloomington/
London: 1975), III, p. 428 (3129).
11. S. Kierkegaard, JP V, p. 447 (6135).
12. S. Kierkegaard, Activity, p. 495.
13. Martin Heidegger, Die Frage nach der Technik, in VortriJgeund Aufsatze (Pfullingen:
1987), pp. 16ft.
14. Reinhold Schneider, Europa als Lebensform, p. 222.
15. S. Kierkegaard, JP I, p. 302 (656).
16. S. Kierkegaard, Activity, pp. 496ff.
17. S. Kierkegaard, JP I, p. 270 (649).
18. Jttrgen Moltmann, Gott in derSch~pfung. (Mtinchen: 0kologische Sch6pfungslehre,
1985), p. 149.
19. Reinhold Schneider, Europa als Lebensform.
20. Therefore Hayo Gerdes doubts whether Kierkegaard's diaries can be considered
autobiographical (see his introduction to his own German edition of Kierkegaard's
diaries I, 2). In contrast Emanuel Hirsch considers Kierkegaard's writings about
himself to belong to the history of European autobiography (see Hirsch's
introduction to his own German edition of Kierkegaard's writings about himself
XIII, XIV).
21. Woifgang Trillhaas, 'Die eigene Geschichte erz~hlen. ()bet Sinn und Unsinn von
Autobiographien', in EvKomm 11/1978, pp. 715-718; Walter Sparn, 'Autobiographische Kompetenz', in Marburger Jahrbuch Theologie III, ed. Wilfried H~le and
Reiner Preul (Marburg: 1990), p. 63..
22. Walter Sparn, Autobiographische Kompetenz, p. 55.
23. S. Kierkegaard, JP I, p. 449 (1025).
24. S. Kierkegaard, The Sickness unto Death, ed. Hong and Hong (Princeton: 1980),
p. 131.
25. S. Kierkegaard, JP II, p. 379 (1946).
Volume 20, Nos 1-3, January 1995
188
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
Hartmut Rosenau
S. Kierkegaard, The Sickness unto Death, part I.
S. Kierkegaard, The Sickness unto Death, p. 13.
S. Kierkegaard, JP I, pp. 456--457 (1050).
S. Kierkegaard, JP II, p. 390 (1970).
S. Kierkegaard, JP II, p. 390 (1971).
S.Kierkegaard, dP V, p. 131 (5383).
S. Kierkegaard, JP V, p. 33 (5099).
S. Kierkegaard, JP V, pp. 33--34 (5099).
With regard to the 'unified point of view' as a specific element of the autobiography
see Janos Szavaj, The Autobiography (Budapest: 1984), p. 126.
S.Kierkegaard, JP IV, p. 144 (4122).
S. Kierkegaard, JP V, p. 69 (5142).
S.Kierkegaard, JP II, p. 276 (1745).
Walter Sparn, Autobiographische Kompetenz, p. 62.
History of European Ideas